Flying Alone Again for the First Time Since Pregnancy!

Eeeii! I just did something that made my heart somersault: I bought a plane ticket to fly somewhere alone for the first time since I found out I was pregnant, 20 months ago!

Sure in those 20 months I’ve flown to Hawaii for a Babymoon with my husband, alone with the baby to Florida, and with both husband and baby to Puerto Rico. But let us pause for a moment and sing the praises of SOLO flight!

Flying alone is a rush. It’s a thrill. It’s a whirling, twirling dance! Your soul soars and your mind flies free. You can talk to people or not. You can be who you were, or not.

As the plane does its heart-pounding initial zoom to the sky, your stomach flips and laughs, and the clouds drop below like sighs of happiness. The future trip stretches out, an ocean as open as the one flowing with tiny whitecap winks below.

As you can tell, I find flying alone awesome. So how might it be now that I’m a mother? I think solo flight will still have the same exhilaration, only with a little pang now of, “Oooh, I miss my little guy, and big guy, too.”

Happily, I know my men can amuse themselves for two days, and both have said (one in “Gagaga” language) that they’re super supportive of me… going to this upcoming Global Education conference at the White House! (Yes, that was me revealing why I just bought that plane ticket. Woo hoo!)

I love my baby, but am passionate about not giving up the things that provide me with joy and career traction outside of the home. Self-expressed, successful, and fulfilled parents make for a well-adjusted child, methinks.

So what about YOU? How do you feel about solo flight? If you’re a parent, how have things shifted with traveling alone since having kids? Are these issues different for men than for women? Do share!